INVESTech Project - Skills Hackathon 2025
The implementation of the INVESTech Project – Innovation, Vocational Excellence and Sustainability in Tech, in which Cluster Sofia Knowledge City is a partner, has entered a new, more practical phase.
For three days from October 19 to 21, 2025, the Technological School Electronic Systems at Technical University Sofia (TUES), also a partner in the project, hosted the first edition of the international hackathon of INVESTech (Skills Hackathon 2025), dedicated to tech solutions for a sustainable and smart future.
The event was attended by 65 students from 10 schools in 3 countries - Bulgaria, Slovakia and Greece, who formed 13 teams to jointly develop, present and competitively defend their projects for innovative prototypes with real social and environmental impact.
Participants received support from mentors from academia and the technology industry, went through intensive work sessions, and in the final presented their solutions to a jury of experts.
The teams showed perseverance, pragmatic thinking and teamwork skills. Such formats develop not only technical abilities, but also competencies such as problem solving, communication and project thinking. Here are the specific results
First place was won by the international student team (team) Potato Heads, consisting of representatives of TUES-Sofia, High School Nikola Vaptsarov - Samokov, High-Tech Systems A. S. Popov - Sofia and SAEK Glyfada - Athens, Greece. The team presented and defended a project for an AI platform for farmers that analyzes data to help them determine which crops are most suitable for growing in different regions and how to most effectively care for them.
Second place went to the international student team I Can’t Find a Job, composed of representatives of TUES), High School Nikola Vaptsarov - Samokov, High-Tech Systems A. S. Popov - Sofia) and SAEK Glyfada - Athens, Greece). They developed a mobile assistant for blind people, using a camera and artificial intelligence to recognize objects in real time and answer questions about the surrounding environment.
Third place went to the team Aender, composed of students from TUES, SoftUni Buditel and National School of Commerce and Banking - Sofia). They presented an applied AI model that optimizes the operation of traffic lights according to traffic in order to reduce waiting and congestion at intersections.
Cluster Sofia Knowledge City congratulates all participants, mentors and partners in the project, which is implemented under the Erasmus+ program, and believes that this is just the beginning of many more successful international initiatives that connect young talents through technology and ideas for a better world.
